Goverment Grants

[Sniperama]

Can anybody tell me if there are any funds available for setting up activities in caithness for the public?

[_Ju_]

Have you not been reading the newspapers? The Government is bankrupt. They are asking charities to take over the services they provide. The only way you can get money out of them is if you are a bank. The only place anyone can go to get money is the bank, for a price.

If you have a project, your best bet would be a lottery funded grant.

[canadagirl]

Car washes, bake sales, raffles....a public activity surely would have lots of supporters...

[wickscorrie]

www.fundingscotland.com

[bagpuss]

it all depends on what sort of activities

some might be the sort of thing people might want to pay for?

[Bill Fernie]

You do not say if you are on your own or representing a group such as a charity. There are many funding sources around including council grants (such as the local discretionary funds - applications via your ward manager), Government grants from a variety of places, and charitable trusts. Most will only give grants to registered charities. If you are not already a registered charity then you could think about forming one if there are enough like-minded people to support your project.

Many of the funders will not give 100% funding and usually look for you or the group to have raised a proportion of the funds yourselves or from other sources. To fund raise you often need to be registered charity as some places may not let you collect money or sell raffle tickets.

I often add information about places to get funding on the web site at http://www.caithness.org/links/fundingforcharities.htm
I have not updated the page for a while due to being too busy but you will find many suggestions for places to apply to but as I say mainly only open to registered charities.

If you are not already a registered charity and want to set one up then take a look at the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator (OSCR) at http://www.oscr.org.uk/

If that looks a bit daunting there is help locally in Caithness from Niall Smith at Caithness Voluntary Group in Wick See http://www.cvg.org.uk/

If your project is a good one then you will probably find others interested in helping to get it started. If the project is not large enough to go to all the bother of setting up a new organisation then volunteers can still do things on their own and it is still possible to raise some money although unlikely that public bodies or charitable trusts will give funds to it as they want to see very tight financial controls in place. Again Caithness Voluntary Group can advise on the best route to get your project going.

You could also try putting up some information on here about the project to see if there are some likely helpers or to get other suggestions.

All the best with your project - everything has to start with an idea - the bigger task is making it happen but look around Caithness and you will see hundreds of them. Just ask folk already on a committee how they do it and you will soon find out more.

Tips
Write out your idea
Form a plan
Go and discuss it with someone to see if it has flaws and how they can be overcome
If its workable find out if it needs funding - not everything does
Find out if some has already done something like it already and check how they got on. Experiences from others might save a lot of headaches.
Get some help - often easier to carry out a plan with more than one or two people.
If it requires some help advertise it on here and ask for some helpers
Don't be put off - everywhere you look there will be some who will tell you it won't work so stick at it if you are sure it has merit.
Do it!

If you decide to form a new registered charity for a bigger idea its not as hard as it might seem -
Ask some folk already on one how they did it - there are many in Caithness.
Ask Caithness Voluntary Group -
They might suggest -
Hold a small public meeting
Form a committee - Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, committee members
Draw up a constitution - lots of help at CVG for this
Get agreement on what you are going to do - is it a one off event or longer ranging
Set out your plan
Raise funds - either locally or from outside bodies - there are over 7000 trusts to look at and CVG has lists

Good Luck with it.

[beetlecrusher]

I think STV have a competition for funding just now - have a look on their website.

[*Martin*]

You could always ask the WADF for a lend :D

[annemarie482]

if your under 25 you might be eligable for help from the princes trust.
see business gateway for advice